Napheesa Collier Says Olivia Miles Is an MVP Candidate. Does the Rookie Have a Case?

A look at the WNBA MVP race ahead of the All-Star break.

At the All-Star break, Olivia Miles is averaging 19.6 points, 6.0 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 2.1 stocks (steals plus blocks) per game. | Jeffrey Becker/Imagn Images

At the WNBA’s All-Star break, the Lynx are the only team to hit 20 wins. Minnesota is on a seven-game winning streak at the break with a 22–6 record.

The scary part? Superstar forward Napheesa Collier just made her season debut on Wednesday. After a lengthy recovery from offseason surgery on both ankles, Collier was back to her usual self with a 24-point, 10-rebound double-double in her first game of the year.

Collier has finished second in MVP voting in two straight seasons, but she has her eye on a new candidate—Minnesota’s superstar rookie, Olivia Miles. The Lynx took Miles with the second pick in the WNBA draft as the franchise’s guard of the future and she’s already broken out as much more than that.

Without Collier for a previously unspecified amount of time, the season was a bit of an unknown. Miles’s immediate arrival as one of the best players in the league kept the Lynx at the top of the standings, however, as the franchise hopes it can get over the hump and win its first championship since 2017.

Miles hasn’t just adjusted to the next level, she’s taken the league by storm. She’s in the midst of one of the greatest rookie seasons in WNBA history. Along the way, she’s broken through her presumed ceiling each time she’s taken the floor.

All-Star starter? Check. Rookie of the Year? The only choice. All-WNBA? If she’s not included, we riot. A potential MVP candidate? Wait, could she really be there already? Collier seems to think so.

“I’ve been so proud of them,” Collier said of Minnesota’s dominance during her recovery, via ESPN. “The blood, sweat and tears to get here—I’ve seen the behind the scenes every day of building the chemistry, the buy-in ... working with the best rookie, who is arguably an MVP candidate. ... For us to be in the No. 1 slot, you can never count us out.”

She’s got a point. Miles is in the top 10 across the WNBA in both scoring and assists, she’s a good rebounder for a guard and she’s been highly effective as a defender, too. Minnesota’s stellar season without Collier thus far hasn’t all been Miles—Natasha Howard and Courtney Williams are All-Stars, too, and Kayla McBride could’ve been another. However, Miles has been Minnesota’s best player and the best player on the league’s best team certainly deserves a say in MVP conversations. 

A look at Olivia Miles’s MVP case

At the All-Star break, Miles is averaging 19.6 points, 6.0 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 2.1 stocks (steals plus blocks) per game. Her net rating of 13.7 is the best mark in the league of any player who plays at least 15 minutes per game (excluding Collier, who made her season debut on Wednesday).

Are those MVP numbers? Yes. Are the numbers enough to win MVP this year? Eh, debatable.

A’ja Wilson is still A’ja Wilson. That was Collier’s issue when she had MVP-caliber seasons of her own the past two years. So far this year, Wilson has averaged 25.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 3.5 stocks per game while the Aces are at 18–8, currently the No. 3 seed and three games back of Minnesota. Of Wilson’s four MVP seasons, she scored more in just 2024 when she averaged a whopping 26.9 points per game.

Another absolutely bonkers year for the best player in the world. 

Elsewhere, Paige Bueckers has a case of her own, too. The second-year Wings star is putting up 20.9 points with 6.2 assists to only 2.0 turnovers per game. Dallas is in position for its first playoff appearance in three seasons and Bueckers’s dominance is a huge part in that. Caitlin Clark is also in the conversation as she averages the most assists across the league aside from Alyssa Thomas. Clark is dishing 7.8 dimes a night while scoring more than 20 points herself, generating the most offense of anyone across the league.

Of all the MVP cases out there, though, Wilson remains the name to beat. She’s the league’s leading scorer who happens to be the most feared defender as well. Her four MVP awards are the most of any player in WNBA history and she’s on the verge of getting No. 5.

“I’ve seen the behind the scenes every day of building the chemistry, the buy-in,” Napheesa Collier (left) said. “Working with the best rookie, who is arguably an MVP candidate. ... For us to be in the No. 1 slot, you can never count us out.” | David Sherman/NBAE/Getty Images

Other than Wilson, no player has a better say to be named MVP than Miles, however. Aside from the flashy passes, nifty finishes and impressive numbers, the Lynx star guard is the best player on the league’s best team. Collier’s return could cause a slight dip in Miles’s numbers down the stretch—Miles had 13 points and six assists in Collier’s first game back—however, the return didn’t mess with Miles’s shot diet. She took 15 shots in Wednesday’s win over the Storm, more than her season average of 13.2 field goal attempts. It was just an off night from the field.

Collier and Miles instantly form the WNBA’s most exciting star duo that should be a joy to watch for years to come. Will they eat each other’s lunch at times? Maybe. But if the wins keep coming, then who cares? If Miles has proved anything thus far, it’s that she’s nothing close to your ordinary rookie. She conducts an offense like few others can and has already become an impactful perimeter defender.

Candace Parker is the only player to win MVP as a rookie, doing so in 2008 after she averaged 18.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.6 stocks for the 20–14 Sparks. Wilson has set a new standard as she continues to outdo herself, well past her 19.5 points per game that won her the MVP in ’22. There’s no knock against the legitimacy of Miles’s MVP case, there just happens to be another player in a different stratosphere than anyone else. Not even voter fatigue can crack Wilson’s greatness.  

Diana Taurasi was the last true guard to win MVP when she received the honor in 2009. In this new era of Miles, Bueckers and Clark, that’s bound to change at some point. As long as Minnesota remains a title contender, Miles may have the best shot to break that streak.

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